1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle wheel with a wheel rim and a solid tire positioned on the wheel rim. The wheel rim includes an annular lower shell composed of segments and having a wedge-shaped surface on an outer circumference braced against a wedge-shaped surface of an annular upper shell embodied in a diametrically opposed manner to the wedge-shaped surface of the lower shell. The lower shell is arranged on the wheel rim and the upper shell is connected to the solid tire.
2. Description of Background Information
A vehicle wheel of this type is known from EP 1 312 489 A2. The essential thing with a vehicle wheel of this type is that an annular lower shell composed of segments and having a wedge-shaped surface on the outer circumference is arranged on the rim, which lower shell is braced against an annular upper shell having a wedge-shaped surface embodied in a diametrically opposed manner, which upper shell is firmly connected to the solid tire.
The advantage of a vehicle wheel of this type is that the solid tire that is fixedly arranged on the upper shell can be mounted on the lower shell and thus on the rim with the simplest device. A simple torque wrench is sufficient for mounting a tire of this type on a rim, while otherwise heavy-weight presses are used with all known solid tires for industrial purposes in order to press the solid tire directly onto the rim. However, suitable presses for pressing solid tires onto the rims are heavy and expensive and not available everywhere, so that it is difficult to have a new solid tire mounted onto a rim when needed, since long distances to a workshop equipped with a press of this type often have to be tolerated.
A construction known from EP 1 312 489 A2 can already overcome these disadvantages, since through the construction of segmented lower shell and one-piece upper shell with a tire vulcanized thereon, the simplest fitting is possible that can be carried out virtually anywhere.
Nevertheless, certain disadvantages have become apparent with a construction according to EP 1 312 489 A2, which are to be overcome through this invention.
The influence of heat on the construction of lower/upper shell has proven to be particularly problematic, in that, e.g., at high temperatures as a consequence of outer or inner temperature increases the upper shell has a tendency to undergo thermal expansion, through which a frictional contact between the upper and lower shell is not guaranteed in every case. The solid tire then begins to turn on the rim or on the lower shell.